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The approval opens up a “modest” market for AstraZeneca’s Etcamah, according to Leerink analysts, who nevertheless looked forward to an upcoming late-stage readout that could lead to a “significantly larger opportunity” for the drug.
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After mastering mass-market mRNA production during the pandemic, the industry now needs to achieve the timely delivery of individualized vaccines to thousands of patients.
While some drugmakers continue to walk the alpha-synuclein antibody path, others like AC Immune opt for new approaches that could bring the first-ever disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease.
Zanvastro, an antisense oligonucleotide therapy, represents the first independent neurology launch for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which intends to leverage the foothold for more approvals in rare neurodegenerative diseases, including Angelman syndrome.
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The FDA has been trying to mend fences with rare disease drug developers and patient groups since the departure of former Commissioner Marty Makary three months ago. But advisory committee meetings last week for Replimune and Capricor Therapeutics only created more confusion and frustration.
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Contract development and manufacturing organizations looking to do business with biopharmas include Lonza, which has more than 30 sites, and Samsung Biologics, which recently announced a planned acquisition of another CDMO.
Seven of the 10 companies participating in the fall cohorts of MassBio and SCbio’s Drive program are based in the United States, including four in Massachusetts.
With M&A rising, venture capital returning and policy risks easing, biotech is on a positive trajectory following a prolonged post-pandemic slump, Truist Securities declared after a survey of sector leaders.
The co-development deal comes after Pfizer reported a late-stage failure for a Seagen asset and the discontinuation of another investigational therapy developed by the company as a subsidiary of the pharma.
AbbVie’s etentamig has a relatively cleaner safety profile and an administration schedule that could give it an edge over other BCMA-targeting multiple myeloma therapies on the market, according to BMO Capital Markets.
The data, which come from a subgroup in an earlier trial that Truist Securities called “the most relevant” to Revolution Medicines’ ongoing Phase 3 test in RAS mutant NSCLC, showed a 42% overall response rate and overall survival of 16 months.
A new program from ARPA-H has devoted funding to make individualized RNA-based genetic medicine more efficient to produce and improve accessibility.
New Phase 3 data show that Summit Therapeutics and Akeso’s PD-1/VEGF therapy improved overall survival in patients with a type of lung cancer as compared to Merck’s Keytruda but the results will need to be replicated in non-Chinese patients.
For $110 million upfront, GSK will have the exclusive global right to advance HMPL-A830, which combines an EGFR-targeting antibody with a small-molecule KRAS blocker. The asset will be studied for colorectal, pancreatic and lung cancer.
The success of apazunersen in a Phase 3 trial for Angelman syndrome was a key driver of Ultragenyx’s value, according to William Blair, and the asset’s failure robs the biotech of any meaningful near-term milestones.